The two-meter-wide Yellow – Red – Blue (1925) consists of several main forms: a vertical yellow rectangle, an inclined red cross and a large dark blue circle; a multitude of straight (or sinuous) black lines, circular arcs, monochromatic circles and scattered, coloured checkerboards contribute to its delicate complexity. This simple visual identification of forms and the main coloured masses present on the canvas is only a first approach to the inner reality of the work, whose appreciation necessitates deeper observation—not only of forms and colours involved in the painting but their relationship, their absolute and relative positions on the canvas and their harmony.

It has been proposed that Abstract Speed + Sound was the central section of a narrative triptych suggesting the alteration of landscape by the passage of a car through the atmosphere. The related Abstract Speed and Abstract Speed—The Car Has Passed would have been the flanking panels. Indications of sky and a single landscape are present in the three paintings; the interpretation of fragmented evocations of the car’s speed varies from panel to panel. The Peggy Guggenheim work is distinguished by crisscross motifs, representing sound, and a multiplication of the number of lines and planes.

The "twittering" in the title doubtless refers to the birds, while the "machine" is suggested by the hand crank. The two elements are, literally, a fusing of the natural with the industrial world. Each bird stands with beak open, poised as if to announce the moment when the misty cool blue of night gives way to the pink glow of dawn. The scene evokes an abbreviated pastoral—but the birds are shackled to their perch, which is in turn connected to the hand crank.
Upon closer inspection, however, an uneasy sensation of looming menace begins to manifest itself. Composed of a wiry, nervous line, these creatures bear a resemblance to birds only in their beaks and feathered silhouettes; they appear closer to deformations of nature. The hand crank conjures up the idea that this "machine" is a music box, where the birds function as bait to lure victims to the pit over which the machine hovers. We can imagine the fiendish cacophony made by the shrieking birds, their legs drawn thin and taut as they strain against the machine to which they are fused.

Kandinsky’s On White II expresses an intelligent combination of the two main colors in the painting: black and white. Kandinsky used color to represent more than just shapes and figures in his paintings. In this painting the many dimensions of the color white is used to represent the many possibilities and opportunities available in life. The color black, on the other hand, represents non-existence and death. Kandinsky expressed the color black as the silence of death, and in this painting, the black cuts through the white background with a riotous effect, shattering the peace of the colorful combination of colors, or as it were, opportunities in life.

An interesting story that indicates Kandinsky’s intellectual examination in the creation of his works revolves around this composition. He became exhausted during the months of studying he went through in preparation for this painting, and decided to go for a walk. His assistant at the time, Gabrielle Munter, who was tidying up the studio in the artist’s absence, inadvertently turned the canvas on its side. Upon Kandinsky’s return, he saw the canvas, fell to his knees and began weeping at the beauty of the painting. His newly found perspective on the piece would change his artistic vision and direction for the rest of his life.